The Prophecy Series: Romans 12 & The Gifts of The Father (Identity)

THIS IS PART OF AN ONGOING SERIES ON THE GIFT OF PROPHECY
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While 1 Corinthians 12 speaks of the gift of the Spirit and the working of love, the context surrounding how Romans 12 speaks of gifts is quite different. Paul begins his discussion of the gifts in Romans 12 not by saying he is going to elaborate on the life of the Spirit as he does in 1 Corinthians, but that your mind must be daily renewed and that you ought to think of yourself as a sacrifice.

Romans 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.

This sets the stage for Paul’s conversation about gifts to the church of Rome.

These gifts are going to have more to do with how you serve and how you think about yourself.

He goes on to tie that directly together in the next few verses:

Romans 12:3-5 For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another.

Each of us has been dealt a measure of faith and we ought to think of ourselves in terms of that faith that has been afforded to us. That faith has to do with how we all tie in together as members of one body, it specifically has to do with how we function as members of one another. These gifts are not about how the Holy Spirit moves through you and empowers you. These gifts are not as directly tied into the life of love and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit (though our giftedness is always tied to that to some degree). They are tied into how you approach who you are. We have each been given a grace:

Romans 12:6a Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them…

The key to any facet of service in the kingdom of God is “to not think of yourself more highly than you ought to.” This is otherwise known as humility. One key to “not thinking of yourself more highly than you ought” is to recognize that various graces have been granted to individuals. You may have one, but not the other. As such, we all need each other to be complete. We are one part of the body with a role to play and God has given us each a part:

“In addition, since no one has the capacity to receive all spiritual gifts, but the grace of the Spirit is given proportionately to the faith of each, (Rom 12:6) when one is living in association with others, the grace privately bestowed on each individual becomes the common possession of his fellows.”

— Basil the Great, The Long Rules

We should esteem each other because we each have a measure of grace that is different from the next person.

I need you and you need me. This is the body of Christ coming together to collectively place his heart on display. As each of us is a member of the body, we all have a part to play, and we all have been afforded a grace to enable our efforts at demonstrating His heart to one another.

This is the context for the seven graces listed in Romans 12: how we think about ourselves in light of the people God has called us to serve. Use the grace given to you and you will flow in your gift. This seems to be the natural outflow of communal life together. There are different functions afforded to everyone based upon the grace God has given, but each has a grace. That grace comes into play when you are doing the thing you are gifted to do (when teaching, teach - context is grace, when teaching teach with the grace given to you).

So then, how do you discover the graces given to you? This is much different than saying (as in 1 Corinthians 12) that the gifts are available to everyone because the Holy Spirit indwells every Christian. Now we are getting down to each individual’s particular call and service. Where 1 Corinthians 14 envisions everyone having the potential to prophesy, Romans 12 sees certain people routinely fulfilling the function of prophecy in their communal life. 

While everyone is called to prophecy (1 Corinthians 14:31), not everyone is called to serve consistently in prophetic ministry (Romans 12:6). This is a major distinction between these two passages. Paul is saying (in Romans 12) that everyone has a specific role to play. Each person has been afforded grace to fulfill that role and they have been given faith to think of themselves accordingly. While everyone can and will prophesy as they walk with God, not everyone will be called into the consistent function of prophecy within their own communities. The same is true of each gift listed in Romans 12. We are all called to show mercy to the poor, but some carry a specific gift of mercy. They can’t help but see the need to help the poor in whatever community they are located.

Discovering the grace given to you is then simple.

What is the thing you recognize as missing most often in your community?

Or what is the thing you think is most needed in your community?

Or the area you envision yourself helping the most?

The one caveat with those questions is that you must think of yourself in all humility. You cannot think of yourself as the solution.

You are a servant, not a solution.

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